Yorkshire Regiment soldier shot dead in Afghanistan (From York Press)

Yorkshire Regiment soldier shot dead in Afghanistan

8:26pm Friday 27th January 2012 in News By Mark Stead , mark.stead@thepress.co.uk

A SOLDIER from 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment has been shot dead in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence confirmed tonight.

The soldier was killed today while on patrol in the Khar Nikah region of Helmand province. He has yet to be named, with his family asking for a “period of grace” before more details are released.

Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Mackenzie said the soldier, whose death brings the number of British military fatalities in Afghanistan to 397, was “fatally wounded in an insurgent attack while on a foot patrol to disrupt insurgent activity”.

The regiment has the Freedom of the City of York and recruits heavily from North and East Yorkshire. Members of the 1st Battalion paraded through the centre of York in 2009 to mark their return from Iraq and Kosovo.